So many people have told me that I should have a Twitter account and, for various reasons, I’ve stopped short at actually doing this. The temptation to respond to negative tweets with an equally negative comment that I might regret is always present—Alec Baldwin is a good exampleJ.

A recent spam report pointed out that Twitter had the largest underground economy for buying and selling fake followers. Apparently there is a whole seedy underbelly to Twitter that most people knew nothing about. It’s has been described as the shadowy Twitter follower black market with shifty websites and Twitter accounts offering thousands of followers or retweets for just a few dollars for each transaction.

Twitter has ended the Auto Follow in the best interest of its users with a blog post quietly announced the change just before the July 4 holiday.

Sandy, Thanks for passing this one along. I had no idea. Couldn’t help smiling at the Baldwin comment. Heard he had shut down his account. Wouldn’t be surprised if he changes his mind when he realizes how effective it his.